. >> the civil rights icon has 17 grandchildren, some of whom opened up in a rare interview with abc's rina ninan. >> reporter: set free after 27 years in prison. >> first steps into a new south africa. >> reporter: some of his grandchildren found themselves longing for his prison days. >> those days i cherished because it was just the two of no one else. when he came out we did not have him because he had bigger issues to tackle. >> reporter: his grandson remembers visiting him when he was 4. >> he asked the wardens if he could put cartoons on the tv so me and my other cousins could sit and watch them and he offered us hot chocolate and he made it himself. >> reporter: his granddaughter said that while he couldn't physically touch them, his words always did. >> at the end of the visit he brought me a box of chocolates saying your visit will always be a bittersweet memory for me. >> reporter: words in the form of letters written to the family from jail. this one describing the moment that he was told his son was killed in a car accident. >> it describes his heart seems to stop and it w